“Kids – get stuffed with lollies, sweets, crisps and pop,” advises a notice at a local sandwich shop.
Welcome to Rotherham, scene of celebrity chef Jamie Oliver’s latest battle to improve the nation’s health.
The south Yorkshire steel town has had its fair share of knocks since the coal mines and mills began closing in the 1980s. It also won unwanted international attention two years ago when mothers at Rawmarsh Community School were caught shoving food through the fence to their children, who had refused the new healthy meals that were on offer after Mr Oliver had revamped the menu. Mr Oliver responded by seeking out Julie Critchlow, the ringleader, and enlisting her help in persuading Rotherham to eat healthily.
His idea is simple. Everyone learns a recipe, then teaches it to two more people. They do the same and soon – if all goes to plan – Britain is turning its back on junk food in favour of old-fashioned home cooking. It may not be as easy as that.
Mr Oliver’s Food Centre – a kitchen set up this year in the city centre where cookery lessons are held – was closed when the Financial Times went calling one weekday lunchtime. A sign in the window said staff were busy teaching in workplaces.
But the nearby McDonald’s was packed. One mum cramming in two cheeseburgers, who declined to give her name, swore she would be cooking tea for her son when she returned home. She might go to cookery lessons but only if they were free, she added.
Stacey Parks, a care home worker walking past on her way to a college course, accompanied by three-year-old son Dylan and her mother, said: “I give him potatoes and veg. I’ve learned recipes from my nan and neighbours.” But she added: “Time is the problem. I work and I’m tired.”
Robert Knowles, a local butcher, blamed the ending of cookery lessons at school for a generation cut off from food. “We used to get children coming in to buy ingredients. Mums would compete to see who got the leanest mince for their lessons. I went to schools to explain about different cuts.”
He said recent Slovakian and Polish arrivals were among his best customers.
Stobbart’s Fruit and Veg round the corner now sells more frozen food than fresh. “Children ask for an apple or banana and their mum tells them to get a chocolate bar,” said Tina, who works there. “Most of them think a joint is something you smoke.”
She added, for good measure: “A lady came in today, bought six frozen dinners and said ‘stuff Jamie Oliver’.”
But that attitude is not universal. Imran Hussein, a mechanic and regular at Stobbart’s, said: “Jamie Oliver can make a difference. After his programme on chickens I started to buy free range rather than battery eggs because the taste is totally different. I don’t eat doner kebabs any more either. Once you have seen what’s in them you don’t want to.”
Anne Russell, a single mother on benefits with two children, says: “They are healthy and doing brilliantly at school. They shouldn’t just deal in stereotypes.”
